Productivity is a primary goal of most computer users, particularly in a work environment. A computer user expects the computer to function properly at all times and to make the data stored thereon consistently available. Loss of functionality or data can be very inconvenient and frustrating, from a productivity perspective. Additionally, computer users typically install various software on the system. It may be necessary for various reasons to conduct an inventory or analysis of software installed on the computer system. This is particularly the case in business environments, where breach of software license agreements can result in company liability. Typically, processes are run on the local user's computer which analyzes the data on the local computer, most often while the user is using the computer, to provide and upload inventory and analysis reports to a central location. This can be a processing and disk intensive process, which further impacts user productivity.
One very common issue that computer users face is the potential for malicious software to disable and/or hijack their system. Often remediation of malware infections require the help of a professional to painstakingly, and often very slowly, identify and rid the system of the infection. It is often the case that the malicious software is able to bypass existing anti-virus and malware protection software running on the client system. This results in a type of problem that can be difficult to diagnose via a customer call to support. At times the solution requires the entire wiping of a system via a system restore (potentially losing customer data and/or settings), and at best it is costly to manually restore the system back to usable for the client. This is a very painful experience that unfortunately is all too common among computer users.
Completing an up to date inventory of software installed and in use across an enterprise or business on the multitude of end clients is a complicated process which is prone to issues. Most current solutions require an inventory agent to be maintained on the end point or try to work around that through the use of management interfaces. These are potentially complex solutions to deploy and maintain or result in incomplete reporting. For example, keeping track of what software site licensing by seat that is in use and staying compliant can be a time consuming task, which can dramatically impact user productivity.
In general, user productivity is a high priority among computer users. Thus, any maintenance, compliance, inventory, or auditing processes that need to be conducted on the computer can be problematic, because such processes can consume valuable system resources, or render the computing device unavailable to the user for periods of time. These processes can negatively affect user productivity.